Mayor's Row...by Ned Mitchell
Lets' get real here today for a minute or two. As one of my church camp counselors used to say to the rowdy boys in the dorm, we need to have a come to Jesus meeting here. That meant that he was fed up with the nonsense being handed out by a bunch of rowdy boys and that it was time to get serious about things not only in our spiritual life but also in the actions we were putting forth at the time.
So I for one have about had enough of this endless banter coming out of our politicians press machines and to be blunt I have had enough of major news outlets all over the state including those around us here that continue to promote this propaganda. It is time for the meeting, you can call it what you want. You would think we live in some third world country with a dictator owned national news media screening every word that the subjects are allowed to read. Am I the only one who can see that we are drowning in Illinois? Of course I am not; I talk every week to folks in a 26 county area and I am here to tell you that nobody is buying this trash that we are being fed.
We are in the midst of bankruptcy in this state and it is as if the Emperor has no clothes and we don't even notice. After the Maytag debacle we kept thinking it couldn't get any worse. Now we have the TUMS debacle in Pinckneyville and just as I predicted over a year ago this has happened. TUMS had an annual payroll of about $12.7 million dollars and employees had health insurance, retirement, and union protection. Economists tell us that annual wages will be turned over at least six times in a year so that $12.7 million dollars in wages amounts to $76 million dollars in cash spent paying bills, educating kids, buying cars, houses, paying insurance, clothes, food, utilities and just everyday spending that we all do.
Maytag had an annual payroll of $31 million dollars. Multiply that by 6 and you will find $186 million dollars in spendable cash that is now gone. Add the two together and we have a whopping $262 million dollars sucked out of the Southern Illinois economy. Then add on top of that those who have lost jobs at Joy Manufacturing, General Henry, Roundy's, American Coal, Burger King, and others and we are approaching $300 million dollars in lost money to our economy. On top of all of this bad news those brave underpaid and overworked legislators in Springfield have allowed AmerenCips to boost our power bills by an average of 55%. Some of us in all electric homes will see that double. By the State of Illinois's own admission we have lost over 50,000 manufacturing jobs in the last 3 years. A big portion of those went to surrounding states that for some reason have a more business friendly work environment. Not all of these jobs have moved to Mexico.
So that is the bad news, now for the good news. Local media outlets on Saturday blazed headlines that the State of Illinois is working to attract a Toyota plant in our state. First of all what are they thinking, Illinois officials I mean? Or better yet, what are they smoking to think that any major industry is coming to town where their utility costs have just doubled, property taxes are out of control, we have the highest worker's compensation rates anywhere around us, unemployment insurance costs are among the highest anywhere and we have the largest pension debt of any of the 50 states? Prospective businesses are wary of that pension debt as they all know it must be paid and sooner rather than later. They also rightly suspect that businesses are going to be tapped for the money.
Sunday's paper had a big splash about a coal to diesel plant in Cairo that would cost billions of dollars to build and would employ 1,000 full time workers. Please!!!! Then we have the 30 year saga of opening new coal mines in Southern Illinois is just around the corner. The only problem with that is some of us have been around for that 30 years listening to that bunk. We see press conference after press conference about how things are better than they have been in years around here. We've never had it so good! Franklin County has a juvenile detention center that was supposed to really be some sort of economic boon to us. It does provide good jobs and for that we are thankful. Just before the last election it was announced with great fanfare that the State of Illinois was going to be paying $1.5 million dollars in money owed to the juvenile center. They were all there patting each other on the back for a job well done. The only problem is now the election is over and get this, the legislature did not even vote on putting the money in the budget so the check could be written! So here we are once again, duped, holding the bag!
The brief time I spent in the State Senate found me often driving home from Cairo or other areas down south depressed as all get out. I mean once you get south of Marion there is very little going on economically in Illinois. You talk about poor people, I witnessed some things that most of us up here would not believe outside seeing them for ourselves. I often thought just what could be done to improve the quality of life in these areas. I also was lost as far as a solution. We have tried every government handout program available but we cannot seem to break the cycle of poverty and it is getting worse by the day. As I wrote last week there are parts of this country that are absolutely experiencing economic growth and that is based around good paying jobs. I've always felt that one way for us to improve our lot in life is through education. If we can only get our young people educated at least that generation will have a better life. But here we are in Illinois once again, lagging behind the other 49 states. Our state government, despite a Constitution that specifically states it is the state's obligation to pay for the bulk of secondary education, pays around 39%. The rest is made up in mine and your property taxes. Our children down here are at a huge disadvantage compared to children up north. You tell me how that is fair and I dare any politician in this state, north or south, to prove the fairness of that.
What we have been reduced to now is a few prisons to lock up the worst of society and we have jobs for hard working employees there to guard them putting their own lives on the line every day. Then we have a couple of river boat casino operations around here as we attempt to gamble our way out of debt. While in Metropolis last week I noticed the Pay Day loan business is booming down there. The reason for that is local folks are losing their socks at the boat and paying very high rates of interest to try and get even. I'm here to tell you that if this bunch in charge of this state were running GM, Ford, or any major corporation they would be fired. Sadly, they work for me and you and we keep putting up with it. The least the media could do is call this bunch on the carpet and get some answers for the rest of us to sort out. We simply cannot think that building a new little league field in Marion is going to save us and the future generations in Southern Illinois. We need a complete over haul in property tax, income tax, sales tax, worker's compensation, unemployment tax and other incentives to attract new business and keep the old ones. If we settle for anything less; we have failed not only ourselves but also our children and grandchildren. If you are happy, keep going, if not, get up off your collective behinds and make your voice heard. The choice is yours!
Ruth Ann King is recuperating from heart surgery at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. Christopher's Rex Rowland is heading to Texas for tests this week. Please remember these in your prayers and a card would be appreciated.
If you need us give us a call at 625-5322 or 625-3611 or write nedmitchell@verizon.net or www.sesser.org or P O Box 277, Sesser, Il 62884.
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